Scrawled Memories
by UninspiredRambler
Summary: Bella keeps her thoughts and wishes written on pretty paper stars sealed in a glass bottle. However, it seems that lately her thoughts are constantly revolving around one of her best friends...


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot of the story, so please don't sue me.

**Bold Words: **Notes  
_Italicized Words: _Flashbacks

**Scrawled Memories**

**Chapter One****  
He's My Best Friend**

I stared at the many colourful paper stars in the glass bottle, trying fruitlessly to count the number of stars in it. I'd developed an obsession of folding paper stars since the age of nine. In the past, children my age used to scribble away in diaries, whilst I took to doing something else. Instead, I chose to do something unique, something different, something that I knew not many people did. Instead of keeping a diary, I stuck to writing all my experiences on long strips of colourful paper before folding them into stars and dropping them into a glass bottle.

The glass bottle I had was no ordinary glass bottle. It was something special and meaningful to me. I had received this as a gift from Renee after she had taught me how to fold these pretty delicate paper stars on a cool summer night, the night before she chose to leave Charlie and me for good. The package had arrived a week after she had left, and attached to it was a letter telling me how much she loved me and that I would always be in her heart.

The glass bottle, at that time, seemed so big to me. Its top had reached the tip of my nose, the width spanning the size of about half a meter and had been a struggle to pull up to my bedroom, considering the fact that my room was on the second floor of our house. Along with the bottle and letter, there had been a huge manila envelope in the package, and in it was a wide array of colourful strips of paper, ranging from soft periwinkle blue to cold metallic silver. These strips of paper were my means to escape from reality as writing on them and folding them tended to take up all my attention.

Along with my experiences and recounts of the past, the stars also contained my many wishes for the future. Somehow, whenever I was just about to run out of these pretty strips of paper, Renee would send another envelope of them, always accompanied with a letter filled with words of love.

Right now, I was in my second year of Dartmouth University and this bottle, situated right next to the head of my bed, was like a little piece of home in my shared apartment. I had been lucky to have been accepted here, together with my best friends Alice and Edward Cullen. We had become fast friends in middle school and had stuck together ever since. At the moment, the three of us were living together in this rented apartment, which was conveniently situated near our school.

Alice was majoring in Fashion Design, whilst Edward majored in Music. Me? I had chosen English Literature.

For the past years, the stars in my glass bottle had many different topics, but only one topic recurred again and again. The topic was more of a who than a what, namely, Edward Cullen.

Edward Cullen was a great best friend, one that I would never trade for in a million years. He was not only handsome, but he was also witty and musically inclined. Edward was the envy of every guy and the crush of every girl, which unfortunately included me.

To say that I was simply crushing on my best friend would be a clear understatement. The word infatuation didn't even begin to describe what I felt for him, yet somehow, loving him seemed wrong, because he saw me only as a friend, and there was no way that he would ever reciprocate my feelings for him. But it didn't matter to me, because as long as I was with him, even if I could never be truly loved by him, I would be the happiest girl I could be.

I sighed, absentmindedly tracing the mouth of the glass bottle, staring at its contents as I lay on my bed on my front. At the moment, it was just a little over being half full after ten years of memories and wishes. A knock on my bedroom door pulled me away from my thoughts as I heard the door knob turn and the door opened, revealing the figure of Alice.

"Bella! School's going to start in thirty minutes and you're still staring at that bottle of yours!" Alice practically nagged at me as she pulled me off my bed, pushing me out of my room as I quickly snagged my messenger bag from the foot of my bed. "Do you have any idea how long Edward and I waited in his Volvo? Now march young lady!" Alice ranted as the both of us made it out of the apartment and down the stairs to Edward's trusty silver Volvo. I nearly melted at the sight of Edward leaning lazily at the side of his pride and joy, a crooked grin on his face as he watched Alice march me towards him.

I smiled sheepishly in apology as Alice slipped into the back of his car, muttering incoherently to herself.

"Overslept?" He asked, smiling at me as he pushed away from the car, opening the door to the passenger seat for me. "Nope, just got too caught up in my own thoughts." I replied, sliding into the car seat as he shut the door. I could see Edward chuckling as he walked over to the driver's side, got in, and revved up car. "You're always thinking, Bella." Edward said, his eyes focused on the rear view mirror as he backed out of the drive way and drove us to school.

I could see Alice in the back practically bouncing in the rear view mirror, an excited grin tugged on her lips. I turned around and raised a brow inquisitively at her actions. "What gives Alice? You're not usually so excited about school."

Instead of answering, Alice's grin simply grew wider, her cheeks unexpectedly turning a vague hue of red. I turned back, looking at Edward. "Do you have any idea?" Edward simply smirked and said, "Jasper." I nodded, understanding in an instant what he meant. Alice had the biggest crush on Jasper Hale, a smart, but quiet, second year student that majored in Bio-medical Science. Usually he was very empathetic and could pick up the feelings of others in an instant. Unfortunately, he was somehow clueless about Alice's feelings for him.

In five minutes, we reached school and Alice literally jumped out of the Volvo and raced head first to her class, yelling behind that she would meet us for lunch later at the cafeteria, just as Edward and I had climbed out of the car. The both of us caught each other's eye and chuckled at her child-like enthusiasm as we walked towards the large school building.

"So Bella, are you still in love with that glass bottle of yours? I swear, sometimes those paper stars know a lot more about you than Alice and I ever will. Heck, maybe it even knows the person you like."

I laughed nervously at his comment as he held the door open for me. I brushed past him, grinning. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Edward grinned crookedly, and winked at me before sauntering towards his lecture hall.

**-**

I stared mutely at my watch as the time slowly and agonisingly ticked by, just twenty minutes more and I would be out of here and in the presence of Alice, Edward, and if I guessed right, Jasper as well. I sighed as I listened to Professor Richards drone on about the metaphors found in most poems. This was all so familiar to me, I knew them all so well that I could simply name them all right off the bat, therefore making this lecture meaningless. I rolled my eyes as I chewed at the tip of my pen, pondering about my feelings for Edward.

I remember how it felt when my heart started yearning Edward. I had been fifteen when my feelings for Edward had begun to develop. At first, it was just a simple crush, one I had tried valiantly to ignore, but it had been absolutely futile as it soon grew into full-blown love, one that would be kept a secret from him as long as I possibly could. Thankfully, no one but my glass bottle knew of my feelings for him. I glanced at my watch and groaned internally, why couldn't the remaining ten minutes just fly by?

I knew it was insane, but being away from Edward was sometimes maddening, it wasn't controllable, it was sometimes just so hard to restrict the undeniable pull I had to him. I silently pulled my bag from beneath my chair and discreetly tugged out a strip of paper. I had always kept a bunch of them in my bag, just in case something happened or if I just wanted to write something down. All this thinking about Edward had reminded me of a quote from Romeo and Juliet and I simply had to write it down. With my head bent, I quickly scrawled it down.

"**My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."**

I felt the my lips tug into a tiny smile as I slowly folded the burgundy strip of paper into a star, but instead of pinching the ends to complete it, I left it flat, tucking it away into my pencil case for later storage. I didn't want to risk crumpling or flattening my paper star. To me, each and every paper star was special and significant to me, like a piece of my heart.

Just then, the school bell rung, but Professor Richards seemed to just ignore it and kept going on for another good five minutes before finally releasing us all from his brutal, verbal torture. I quickly shoved my stuff into my bag before slinging it over my shoulder and rushed down the aisle of chairs, fighting my way through the crowd of students to make my way to the door. I would have torn straight to the cafeteria if I hadn't had spotted a familiar head of messy bronze locks next to the door of my lecture hall.

"Edward, what are you doing here?" I asked, walking towards his sitting form. He looked up at me and grinned. "I was on my way to the cafeteria when I saw that your lecture hadn't ended yet, so I decided to just wait for you." I held out a hand and he grasped it, pulling himself whilst muttering a soft thanks. The two of us then strolled on to the cafeteria.

"Well, you know you didn't have to, you could have gone on to lunch first."

"I know I could have, but I _wanted _to wait for you."

I tried my best to fight down the blush that I knew was emerging as I looked forward, before trying my best to answer him as normally as possible. "Oh, then thanks for waiting for me."

"Anytime Bella, besides, what are friends for?"

My heart ached slightly at his answer, but I shook it off, before smiling back at him in return. Just then, we reached the doors of the cafeteria. Edward, being the gentleman he was, pushed open the door for me and allowed me to pass before entering himself. We located Alice and Jasper eating together at a table at the far corner of the vast room. Before Edward could walk in their direction, I quickly dragged him over to the lunch queue, ignoring his questioning looks as I pushed a tray into his hands before grabbing one for myself.

"Don't you want to put down your bag first Bella? It looks kind of heavy."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his denseness, before replying. "You really are as clueless as Jasper, aren't you?" He raised an eyebrow at my comment as I continued, "For once, Alice is eating alone with Jasper, so let's not spoil their moment together and eat together at another table, alright?"

"Oh... I get it. But your bag still seems kind of heavy... So let me get that for you." His hand darted out without warning as he grabbed my bag and slung it over his own right shoulder. I blushed at his thoughtfulness, muttering a quiet thanks before grabbing a chicken mayo sub and a bottle of orange juice and moving along to pay for it. My eyes scanned for a good place to sit since when Edward joined me at my side, looping his arm around mine as he led me to a small, empty table near the side windows of the cafeteria.

We set our trays down and sat down across from each other. My eyes took in the amount of food on Edward's tray and I felt my mouth fall open in shock. There was a plate of nachos with cheese, two slices of pepperoni pizza, two cups of chocolate pudding and a bottle of cola. Since when did Edward eat this much? "Close your mouth Bella before you catch a fly in there." He chuckled, nudging my mouth close with his index finger as he said this. I narrowed my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him, before asking him.

"What's with the mountain on your tray? Don't tell me you've grown a black hole in your stomach."

"Actually, they're not all for me, some are for you too. I just don't think you eat enough." He placed the cup of mango pudding on my tray before pushing the plate of nachos to the middle of the table, gesturing me to dig in. I glared at him, flicking his wrist in irritation at his comment. "I do so eat enough." He pointed his finger at my sub and orange juice. "Bella, you have at least a few more hours of school, I can hardly call your lunch enough. And don't try to argue, because I'm not letting you get out of the cafeteria till you finish everything before you."

I rolled my eyes before picking up my sandwich as we both starting munching on our lunches. I had just finished my chicken sub when Lauren Mallory stalked her way towards Edward with her stilettos and shiny, pink handbag. She draped her arms around Edward's shoulders, a supposedly seductive smirk on her over-glossed lips.

"Hey handsome, are you done with your lunch? Because I was hoping we could get lost together in the library, if you know what I mean."

I almost gagged at her making such an open suggestion as I watched Edward's reaction to what she had just said. Edward gave a weak smile as he cautiously pushed her away from him. "I'm not exactly done with my lunch Lauren." A huge grin stretched across her face when she heard this. Oh no, why did Edward have to be so nice and painfully blunt?

"Well that's okay, I can just wait for you."

Edward sent a pleading look at me as Lauren reached for the spare chair next to him. There was no way I was going to let her steal Edward, especially since he was clearly so uncomfortable about it. I cleared my throat to gain her attention and her head swivelled to look at me, seemingly as if she hadn't even seen me.

"Actually Lauren, Edward and I are busy discussing a little personal project, one that involves _just the two of us_, so I don't think he can join you in the library today. In fact, he's going to be busy for quite some time now." I smiled sweetly at her as Edward nodded dumbly at the corner of my eye. Her eyes narrowed at what I said, before turning back to Edward with a fake smile on her face. "I see, maybe I could help Edward?"

"It's quite alright, Bella and I really want to do it ourselves, but thank you for the offer Lauren."

"Oh... Then I'd best be off. Bye handsome, I'll call you soon!"

Edward waved at her as she walked off, her stilettos clicking on the tiles of the room. I turned to look at Edward and immediately laughed at his frightened expression. When would Lauren ever take the hint that Edward wasn't interested in her? She'd been after him since the beginning of first year and had preyed on him ever since. But then again, I could sympathize with her to a certain extent; after all, it wasn't like Edward was ever going to take notice of me in that kind of light either... Just thinking of that made my mood drop to the ground.

I glumly crunched on a cheesed nacho as Edward wordlessly finished the last bite of his pizza and helped to finish the remaining nachos. He glanced at my moody expression and frowned. "What's wrong Bella? Why the long face? Lauren couldn't have been as bad as before, right?" I looked at his concerned face, sighing at how clueless he could be. "It's nothing." He looked at me with doubt in his eyes before he grinned as took hold of his chocolate pudding. Pulling back the plastic seal, he dipped his index finger into the sticky dessert, scooping a little of it onto the tip of his finger before unexpectedly smearing it onto my right cheek.

I gasped at his action as he smirked, as if daring me to retaliate. I unsealed my own chocolate pudding and spread some on his chin, laughing at his chocolate goatee. He laughed along with me as I took my napkin and wiped the mess on my cheek. I grinned at his playful face as he wiped the pudding off his own face. However he missed a small spot at the tip chin. I giggled and leaned over, rubbing the spot off with the pad of my thumb.

I looked up and noticed Edward was staring down at me, his face bearing an unreadable expression. Edward stroked my cheek, his eyes boring into my own as I got lost in that beautiful sea of emerald green. He suddenly seemed to snap out of it, pulling back his hand from my cheek and I leaned back, sitting on my chair. He coughed and smiled. "You had a spot of pudding on your cheek too..." I blinked and laughed nervously. I looked down at my watch, realising that lunch would be over in ten minutes. "Edward, lunch is going to end in a while, so we'd better hurry if we want to finish dessert." He nodded as we quickly downed the rest of the chocolate pudding and cleared our trays, ignoring the last few nachos left on the tray. Edward refused to return my bag, insisting on walking me to class, promising that he would make it to class on time. We walked towards my lecture hall together, before he finally returned my bag to me.

"Alice and I finish class at five, what about you?" Edward asked as a few more students streamed past us and into the hall. "I finish at six-thirty, so I'll be taking the bus home." He shook his head. "No way, I'll be back to pick you up. I'll wait for you outside your last tutorial room at six-thirty sharp. There's no way I'd let you go home alone in the evening." I smiled at him, knowing that protesting was pointless anyway. "Alright, see you then." I gave him a hug before walking into the lecture theatre.

**-**

**Authors Note:**

Originally, this was meant to be a one-shot, before I realised that it'd be an extremely long one-shot. Then, as I wrote, more ideas began to surface, so I decided to break it into a few chapters. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it because I certainly enjoyed writing this. Strangely enough this is the first time I've truly enjoyed writing a story. I've enjoyed it so much that I'm going to go work on the next chapter as soon as this is uploaded so hopefully I'll have the next chapter up by Friday. No promises though, but I'll definitely try my best 'cause I've gotten sick of just reading stories. Haha...

That just about wraps it up, but please do leave a review, because I just love waking up in the morning to a flooded review box. Been a while since that's happened so please make my wish come true! I'd love you to bits, I promise!


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